This is my old blog. You can find my current blog at stephanieperkins.com.

3.11.2011

The Cat's Out: Meet Lola and Cricket!

It feels uncomfortable to post this today, because this morning's news is so sad. I hope all of my friends and readers in Japan are safe. And I hope the tsunami warnings for the west coast here in America come to nothing. Much love and hugs to you all.

So . . . a bit of good news . . .

Penguin's fall catalog has arrived! Which means that I'm proud and thrilled for you to meet two very, very special people:

In this companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, two teens discover that true love may be closer than they think.

For budding costume designer Lola Nolan, the more outrageous the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins move back into the house next door.

When the family returns and Cricket—a gifted inventor and engineer—steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

* * *

Lola Nolan and Cricket Bell's story will be released from Dutton (Penguin) on September 29th, and it's available for pre-order here.

If you're curious about the connection to Anna, take a peek outside of Lola's window. A beautiful row of Victorian style *SAN FRANCISCO* houses! And you know who recently moved to the city . . .

Also! ALSO!

Anna and the French Kiss will be released as a paperback on August 4th, and it'll contain a teaser for Lola. Eep!!!

Are you excited? I'm excited!

EDITED TO ADD: A lot of people on Twitter are asking me about her purple hair. Nope! She just owns a looooooooot of wigs. ;)

Well, I'm partial to the name Lola AND sparkly attire, (when it comes to sparkly, more is more, and there's never too much) and I grew up in and around SF...almost eerie. (I've never even met a boy named Cricket, though.) Love the cover and look forward to reading. :)

i <3 the cover! i <3 that the guy in the book is named CRICKET! i <3 that it takes place in SAN FRANSISCO! ahhhh, yeah, im loving a lot of stuff about this post. Can't WAIT to read this book. obviously.yayayayayay!

I'm so excited!! I made myself save some Anna for today but I'm about to finish it. I'm sooooo in love with it. I want to buy Anna and the French kiss dinner! Your writting is beautiful and I wish I didn't have to wait for your new book. But I'll just read Anna 100 more times!

Love it! Too cute :) I recommended Anna to a teen at BN yesterday (her mom was with her and said she doesn't do scary or paranormal - so of course your book came to mind!) Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock. So hopefully they rushed home and ordered it online.

so excited! but also...a little bummed. you see, MY WIP has a girl called lola who loves sparkly things in it AND shes the best friend of a girl falling in love again with a guy who has A TWIN SISTER who HAS MOVED BACK INTO HER LIFE. see the connection, no?

I feel so bad for being late to the game but I do have a good excuse. Thankfully I have a good friend who text me to let me know when i am missing important things online. She also let me borrow her ARC of Where She Went which I just finished! Thanks for recommending them.

It's me. Getting pumped up for this release! I love all the little details of the cover!

I'd have hoped for an even more outrageous outfit, but the purple hair is cool. More people will underestimate your book due to the cover (really not much that can be done; people see a happy "contemp" cover and they think fluff), but it's going to be amazing!!

Ok, that book can NOT get in my hands quick enough! Adorable cover too! And i almost peed my pants when you pointed out the SAN FRANCISCO houses!! I miss Anna and St. Clair way too much. It's not healthy. ;)

It's beautiful!Was thinking on buying it sept. 29 (e-book) but now I think I need the hardcover (the wig, the colors, the houses!) even though it means waiting more than a month because of the shipping.

Hi, there! I'm Steph, and I wrote ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, and ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I also edited the romantic holiday anthology MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME and the upcoming SUMMER DAYS & SUMMER NIGHTS.